How does days on market or DOM affect buyers?  This is an insightful question one of my clients asked me today.  The question is relevant for both sellers and buyers.  If you’re a seller, you’ve probably wondered how a large number of days on market (DOM) affects buyers and their thinking about a home and how much to offer.

Days on Market – What is DOM?

First, let’s be clear on what we’re talking about.  Days on market is called DOM in our multiple listing service (MLS), and it is the total number of days a home has been listed and in the MLS for sale.  If DOM is 62, we know it has been for sale and listed in the MLS for 62 days.  If DOM is 665, that tells us it has been on the market for 665 days or almost two years.

Do Buyers Care About Days on Market?

Buyers often ask how long a home has been on the market.  If a buyer is not serious about a home, it becomes irrelevant, but if a buyer likes a home and might want to make an offer, the buyer’s attention will turn to the listing price and whether it is a reasonable listing price and a reasonable place to start the negotiations.  This is why they ask about the DOM.

Intelligent Discussions over Days on Market

When I am representing a buyer and we get to the discussion about days on market, we talk about DOM in an intelligent way.  We will talk about the total number of days on market, which includes the current listing plus the DOM of any prior listings.  I already have looked up any previous listings to learn all I can about a home in the MLS, including the total cumulative DOM.  This means that a listing agent cannot hide the truth by letting a listing expire and then renewing it.  A good buyer’s agent will pull up all the listings, including the expireds.

If the days on market is a small number (under 180 days), then the number means nothing.  The larger the number gets, the more a buyer may be wondering why it hasn’t sold, but the question always answers itself when we have an intelligent discussion.  For example, a home with an unconventional floor plan will turn many retirees off, and that can account for why a home has not sold.  I showed another home recently that has been on the market for a long time, and both the clients I showed it to told me why they were not going to make an offer.  The home had a nice water view, but the bluff was in serous jeopardy, and there was a question about bluff stability.  It probably would be okay for the next 20 years, but maybe not.  Who needs the risk?

For homes like these that have a large number for days on market, it isn’t the number (the DOM) that affects buyers’ decisions to walk away or to make a low offer.  It is the underlying shortcoming that makes the home worth less.  So DOM is not the problem, but it may be a symptom of an underlying negative.  (A foreclosure may fall into this category with a large DOM, and there are some homes in the lower to medium price ranges that are grossly over priced.)

There is another category of homes that are exempt from these rules.  Luxury homes or high priced homes are exempt from any negative associated with a large DOM.  When I have a discussion with qualified buyers of a luxury home that has been on the market for a long time, they understand that in a small market like the Sequim real estate market, there are not very many buyers for Sequim luxury homes.  In all of 2011 only six homes sold for more than $700,000, and only two homes sold for more than $1 million.

Buyers who are qualified to buy a home in this upper price range understand that the homes will have a large number for days on market almost every single time.   In this price range, DOM is irrelevant.  What is relevant to buyers is the true FMV (fair market value) of the home.  They aren’t looking for a garage sale price just because the real estate market is down, but they don’t want to overpay for a luxury home either.  They are looking for location, perhaps a water view or mountain view, and quality and comfort.  And then they want to know what a true appraised value would be.

Sequim buyers are typically very smart.  They will look at days on market, but they look deeper to examine the location and quality of a home, and their decision to make an offer and the price they offer is based on the home itself rather than days on market.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Looking at Sequim Homes
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised
• Sequim Houses for Sale
• Flying to Sequim to Look at Homes

Looking at Sequim homes is a lot of fun, and perhaps that accounts for why I so thoroughly enjoy showing my clients Sequim homes, as well as Port Angeles homes, and also periodically Port Ludlow homes.  In showing clients hundreds of Sequim homes over the last 18 years, I have found a recurring reason why some homes don’t sell, which is another way of saying why buyers don’t like certain homes.

Sequim Homes Built by Retirees

Yesterday I showed a home that was listed as a Sequim home with a water view.  In fact, there was a certain water view that could be seen while standing on the property, but there was no water view at all from the house itself.  The house was built perpendicular to the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the living room and dining room looking east and west.  This means the home has absolutely no view of the water to the north.  Not only was the house positioned on the property in the worst possible way taking no advantage of the water view at all, there was not one window on the north end of the house on either the first or second floors.  I kid you not.  The north wall of the house had no windows at all.  And yet there was a beautiful northern view, including water in the distance.  Sequim homes without a water view?

Sequim Homes – Site Planning

The mistake the builder of this home made is clear, but at the time they built the home and did the site plan (the exact location and positioning of the home on the lot), the retired owners did not know that one day they would want to sell their home, and that it would not sell because they positioned it wrong.  It has been on the market for almost two years and has not sold.  Sequim homes that have been on the market for two years or longer certainly must have a serious buyer disadvantage.

Sequim Homes – When Building Consult With a Realtor

What could retirees do to save themselves from the nightmare of not being able to sell their Sequim homes some day?  Builders are not always the best advisers for the kind of floor plan or the site planning in order to make a house sellable.  Builders build homes, and they are focused on that task, not the marketability of the home years later.  Here’s wise advice.  Before you build a home, buy an experienced Realtor breakfast and take him out to the lot for advice on the house’s location and view, and show him the proposed floor plan.  Most retirees are not planning to sell their Sequim homes soon, but we all sell someday (or our children will).

Possibly Related Posts:

• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised
• Sequim Houses for Sale
• Flying to Sequim to Look at Homes

I examined Sequim homes for sale in the MLS and made a shocking discovery, something that has huge implications for buyers, and especially for retirees who are planning to buy a home in Sequim.  Take a look at this graphic, which depicts the Sequim homes for sale in the MLS in both the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) and the Olympic Listing Service (OLS).  You can use your mouse to click on this image to enlarge it on your computer monitor for easier viewing and more details.  I’ll explain what this information means.

Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS

Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – 2 MLSs

We have two multiple listing services in the Sequim area.  One is complete, meaning that it has all of the local listings (or 99%), and the other MLS does not have all the local listings.  The OLS has all of our local listings, and the NWMLS as you can see in this graph only has a small percentage of the listings.  Obviously, the MLS to use if you are a buyer is the OLS, otherwise you will not see all the homes listed for sale.  Most template broker MLS sites do not give you the option or they do not make it clear which MLS you are searching.  My Sequim MLS site does.  If you want to learn more about why we have two MLSs or how they work, you can read more at Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS and Sequim OLS and Sequim NWMLS. 

Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS

Here is the shocking discovery.  The number of Sequim homes for sale in the MLS is surprisingly small.  A dramatic number of homeowners have not re-listed their homes for sale after their listings expired on December 31st.  You can see on this image above that there are only 106 homes listed in the OLS in the price range of $200,000 to $300,000.  The NWMLS only shows 57 homes listed for sale.  That would be because many listing agents are not members of the NWMLS.  I am a member of both listing services, and I was the first broker in Sequim to give buyers the ability to search both the NWMLS and the OLS in Sequim on a website.  You can see the drop down search option on my Sequim MLS site.  I have not seen this option on any other broker’s site.  I really do have a lot of special tools just for buyers that no one else has, but that’s beside the point right now.

In the price range of $300,000 to $400,000 there are only 64 homes listed for sale in the Sequim OLS.  Isn’t that amazing?  This has major implications for you as a buyer if you are trying to find your perfect retirement home in Sequim.  You can imagine that of 64 homes in this price range, probably only a half a dozen fit your preferences.  Of those, you would undoubtedly filter down the number to one or two that you could call home.

Most people understand that this is a buyer’s market, and it certainly is, but that doesn’t mean you have plenty of homes to chose from.  Read more about the selection of homes and how the market is bifurcated by reading more articles on this blog on that subject.   The interesting discovery for me as I looked in our MLS to examine what is listed for sale for my buyer clients is that the number of  Sequim homes for sale in the MLS has shrunk dramatically.

Possibly Related Posts:

• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Looking at Sequim Homes
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised
• Sequim Houses for Sale
• Flying to Sequim to Look at Homes

How a home for sale is advertised and promoted to prospective buyers is a fascinating study.  Buyers often share their frustrations about how different a home appears when they see it compared to the photos or descriptions they saw online.  I’ve been watching this since the mid-1970s when I first got in real estate sales in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Then I observed how a typical home for sale is advertised as I lived in Spokane, Las Vegas, Puyallup (in the Tacoma-Seattle metropolis), and for the last 18 years in Sequim and Port Angeles.

Home for Sale Ads

When you’re looking online for your perfect retirement home, you’ll undoubtedly filter through hundreds of homes.  It’s tough to narrow that search down to half a dozen to one dozen homes, isn’t it?  The job is made harder if descriptions or photos of a home for sale are not precisely accurate depictions of what you will see in a live 3D version when you get here.

I had a client call me from southern California to tell me he was going to get on an airplane and come to Sequim to look at a home that sounded absolutely perfect.  He said the advertisement described it as a bungalow with a traditional kitchen and a water view.  One of the photos showed a nice water view.  I told my client on the phone, “Before you spend the money and time to fly here, let me run out to Discovery Bay and look at the home, take a few photos for you, and call you back with my impression.  In other words, I’ll be your boots on the ground before you come to Sequim.”  He liked that, and what I found out saved him the trip.  The house was so old, it was barely inhabitable.  The kitchen was traditional if traditional means 1934.  There was no water view from ground level or from any of the windows in the house, but there was a peek-a-boo water view if I stood up on the hill behind the house with my feet level with the peak of the roof.  The water view shared a lot of power and telephone wires and a large shop building on a neighboring property.

Home for Sale Advertisements True or False

Today on the business news the commentator boasted that Bank of America stock was up 16% this year.  This reminds me a lot of the way that some homes are advertised.  What the commentator represented was technically true, but actually was the opposite of the real story from a longer term perspective.  This graphic illustration makes the point by showing the real story of Bank of America (BAC) stock.

Home for Sale Representations

It can be hard for buyers from outside the Sequim area to view homes online with photographs and limited descriptions, but I’m here to help if you need more photos or more information about what is adjacent to the home or what the views really are.  I can be your boots on the ground and preview the property for you, email you photos, and share my observations of the property, it’s condition, and what the views are around the home.  I love doing that, so please don’t hesitate to ask.  I’d love to help you find the perfect home for sale and make it your dream home.

Possibly Related Posts:

• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Looking at Sequim Homes
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• Sequim Houses for Sale
• Flying to Sequim to Look at Homes

Sequim Houses for Sale can be searched on Sequim’s most powerful and easy-to-navigate MLS site.  Here is a fun example of a search for Sequim houses for sale at $500,000 and above.  There are 44 current MLS listings for homes priced above $500,000.  Click on this image to see the actual search results where you can open up the details and also view the full photos.  There are some gorgeous homes in this search.

Sequim Houses for Sale

Sequim Houses for Sale in Luxury Market

Sequim does have some beautiful luxury homes for sale, but if you’re a buyer you will be glad to hear that the percentage of buyers for these more expensive homes is a very small percentage of the buyer population.  That is not encouraging news for sellers, but it means this is a super buyer’s market in the luxury home market, and that is good news for buyers.

Sequim Houses for Sale – Super Buyer’s Market

I thought you might be interested to learn how many Sequim houses for sale in this price range of $500,000 and above actually sold in calendar year 2011.  How many would you guess?  The answer is 19.  Nineteen.  That’s not very many.  That’s why this is such a super buyer’s market.  As a qualified buyer in this price range, you have tremendous negotiating power.

Change your parameters on your search and have some fun looking at Sequim houses for sale in whatever price range you set.

Possibly Related Posts:

• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Looking at Sequim Homes
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised
• Flying to Sequim to Look at Homes

Flying to Washington state to look at Sequim homes is an exciting event I know.  My hope is that I can give you valuable free information on this Sequim real estate blog that will make your trip to look at Sequim homes more productive and very enjoyable.  Whether you decide to buy a home or not, Sequim welcomes you.

A Trip to See Sequim Homes

Heading Toward Sequim Homes

Flying to SeaTac is not a bad flight from just about anywhere in the U.S.  A two to three hour flight covers most of the country, and the drive from SeaTac to Sequim is two hours or more if you stop to eat.  I’ll tell you where I eat when I fly in and out of SeaTac.  Instead of getting caught in the busy I-5 traffic congestion, I prefer to stop halfway between SeaTac and Sequim in Silverdale.  There are several nice restaurants in Silverdale, including my favorite (and my daughter’s favorite), The Olive Garden.  There’s also a Red Robin, an Applebees, Silver City Restaurant and Brewery, and more Silverdale Restaurants.

Preparing to Look at Sequim Homes

I won’t list all the resources available on this site and through my many other sites.  I’ve done that elsewhere, but perhaps the best way to learn about them is to simply search this site and the links in the right hand column.  I made it my goal years ago to provide retirees moving to Sequim more free online Sequim real estate resources than any other broker by an order of magnitude, and I achieved that goal, although I’m far from done.  The resources are all online.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find all these resources I created and effectively use them to do your due diligence and find your perfect retirement home among all the Sequim homes listed for sale.  There are over 1,000 articles on this blog alone written specifically to help buyers like you on almost every aspect of buying a home in Sequim.

Enjoy Your Sequim Tour

If there is anything in advance you would like to know about Sequim or Sequim homes before you arrive, please don’t hesitate to call on me by email or phone, 360-775-5424.  And while you are here, if you would like to visit over a cup of coffee, I would thoroughly enjoy meeting you and answering your questions or just chatting about what it’s like living in Sequim.  My hope is that your search of Sequim homes will be fruitful.

Possibly Related Posts:

• How Does the MLS Days on Market (DOM) Affect Buyers?
• Looking at Sequim Homes
• Sequim Homes for Sale in the MLS – Shocking Discovery
• How a Home for Sale is Advertised
• Sequim Houses for Sale